We love our dog. So why don't our friends?

While Fielding was visiting the other day, Daughter and I absolutely couldn't resist kissing the dog. It is a rescue boxer with a deformed jaw, but we thought it looked so exquisitely beautiful that we both fell upon it, cuddling and cooing over it as it lay on the bed. Fielding was sickened. He sees our behaviour as a form of depravity.

It is difficult to have friends who cannot abide dogs. I forgive Fielding because he's scared to death of them. A dog almost bit off half his face when he was a boy. The same happened to Olivia, but at least she tries to stifle her loathing. Rosemary has no such excuse. She appears at the front door, the darling dog wiggles up to greet her - it is even carrying its squeaky monkey as a welcoming gift - but she only shouts: "Get that wretched dog out of the way!"

Rosemary's attitude is ruining our dog walks. If I stop for one minute and chat to other dog owners - about diet, diarrhoea, fights or other little habits - she stamps off ahead in a bate. Because she doesn't realise that this is my Other Life: no housework, no computer, no doctors, no dramas, just the natural world and dog people. It is absolute heaven, and who gets us out here? The dog.

Even indoors we can barely live without it. When the house is fizzing with hatred and heading for meltdown, when nobody loves anyone, when we all want a divorce, who do we turn to? Who is the only creature we still want to kiss? The dog.

Last night my mother had a dreadful nightmare, woke up feeling desperate and longed to drop dead. She couldn't stand another day of it. Then in came the dog with its squeaky monkey and she perked up at once. Our dog is a lifesaver.

So how shocking to discover that tons of dogs are being thrown away. Last night I heard tragic wails from upstairs. Daughter had located the boxer rescue website and was staring tearfully at the picture gallery. "Guess how many boxers were abandoned just in Essex last year?" said she, outraged. "Two hundred and thirty-two!" Boxer foster parents and adopters are required. Good. Something to look forward to when I retire. Five adopted dogs.